Invasive species have a notorious ability to spread rapidly through unprepared ecosystems, wreaking havoc along their way.
The Asian hornet , is no exception, expanding its habitat by more than 80 kilometers a year while preying on honeybees, hoverflies and other insects.
Nearly 20 years ago, the beefy little stingers – often called 'murder hornets' – made their debut appearance in Europe, eventually jumping the channel where they were spotted on UK soil in 2016.their rapid and widespread infestation across the west was likely the result of just one wasp making the jump to France from China in 2004.
"Our research has revealed the remarkable potential for population expansion of eusocial insects in invaded areas, even when original genetic diversity is extremely low,"University College Cork zoologist Eileen Dillane and team analyzed three genes from the first recorded arrival of the Asian hornet in Ireland in April 2021, and compared them to sequences of wasps found across mainland Europe. All of the genes were mitochondrial genes, which are passed on along the female line.
"Earlier work had demonstrated that Asian hornets in Europe apparently shared the same genetic lineage, based on studies of a single gene. We took this a step further and looked at two additional genes which would be more sensitive in detecting variation within the invasive population,"The results indicated the maternal wasp line found in Dublin was the same seen across all of Europe.
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